Jordan Hamm
Remember Final Destination?
A group of plucky teens have a near-death experience: a plane crash, a carnival accident and a massive car accident (Don’t worry, I don’t think about it every time I see a truck hauling timber.)
But death chases them the rest of the movie, and most, if not all, of said plucky teens find their demise with each iteration getting more creative – grotesque really – as the film rolls out.
Unrelated – was there a night at Camp Tontozona where some bunks almost got tipped over in the offensive lineman cabin? Potential hiking accident? One where there was a close call but everyone walked out unscathed…until the season started.
Because, like in the movie, it feels like if a Sun Devil football player hasn’t been hurt yet, just wait. The injury bug will get them eventually.
It really does feel like a horror movie in a sense when looking at the injury report for Arizona State week-to-week. Those injuries impacted the Sun Devils on Saturday in a way that prevented them from having the biggest upset in program history since Nebraska in 1996.
Instead, we’re talking about a near-miss and a 15-7 loss against No. 5 Washington.
Yes, football will have injuries, but this year it feels like one step forward, two steps back in that record. Or one lineman heathy, two linemen dinged up.
I would like to know how many teams have more injuries coming out of the bye week than they entered with, because that’s what the Sun Devils just endured.
The injuries are at the point that Kenny Dillingham said after Saturday’s loss that they would have gone for a field goal late, but they did not have the linemen numbers to pull that off. It was a realization after one of Dario Longhetto’s field goal attempts got blocked earlier in the game.
“I wasn’t going to put someone out there in that scenario that was going to struggle,” Dillingham said. “We’re going to play to try to win it.”
Instead, the Sun Devils went for it. Washington intercepted the pass and returned it for a touchdown, and the Huskies escaped with a win.
Dillingham is now calling on the general student body to see if they could add to the roster’s depth. Some could activate the valley in their own way by taking the field.
That’s the sort of depth issues the Sun Devils are dealing with.
“I don’t know if there are big bodies at ASU who just (attend school) that want to play field goal for us,” Dillingham said. “If you weigh 330 pounds, and I mean it, reach out to our team. 320 pounds, reach out to our team because we need big bodies to go in there on field goal and we’re down a lot of them.”
Dillingham pointed to four separate times they were within the Washington 25-yard line and didn’t come away with points: two missed field goals and two fourth downs the Devils could not convert. Dillingham said they likely would have kicked field goals with the proper personnel.
Instead, Washington picked it off and scored their only touchdown of the night.
In a game where the Sun Devil defense put the clamps on one of the top offenses in the country, the biggest blow was one they could not defend against.
“We’re trying to find different ways to lose football games,” Dillingham said. “We’re playing good enough football to win. We’re just finding ways to lose, and that’s another way we found to lose and it’s really, really unfortunate.”
Dillingham’s correct that Arizona State has played well enough to win, but it always seems to implode at the exact wrong moment for the Devils.
When you look at the season as a whole, you don’t have to do drastic mental gymnastics to see this team with five wins currently.
Oklahoma State: This is probably the game where it’s the biggest stretch to flip this to a win. But this was a 20-15 game in the back-half of the 4th quarter. Two failed 4th down conversions resulted in 14 points for the Cowboys. The Devils decided to go for it on 4th down on their own 33-yard line with six minutes remaning, and Oklahoma State scored quickly after stuffing the Devils. These are converted or the Devils opted to punt and defense plays like they had all night, a win wouldn’t be that far out of reach.
Cal: Arizona State either converts one of the failed 4th down conversions or kicks a field goal in the process to erase the three-point deficit from the Bears.
Colorado: Arizona State is able to slow down the Buffaloes on their final drive with a tie game. Shedeur Sanders did some damage throughout the game on third downs where the Sun Devil defense was a half-second away from adding to their five-sack total. They connect on one of those, and the game at least gets to overtime.
Washington: The 4th down pass that resulted in a pick-6 falls to the ground, and the Huskies need to drive nearly 75 yards to score, which had not happened that evening. OR the play prior, the referees do not pick up the flag on the defensive holding on Troy Omiere, and Arizona State could likely finish the drive with points.
No matter how large or small the deficit, it still counts as an “L” in the win/loss column.
The health has impacted the product on the field. The execution has been just a tick off.
“Right now,” Dillingham said, “It’s a bingo card for how are we going to lose even though we are playing winning football.”
And in the gauntlet of the Pac-12 this year, teams have plenty of ways to beat you, so it’s back to work for Washington State next week.
